Here's another one of those fake text messages not from AT&T trying to get me to click on a link that will do fiendish things to my phone and/or credit rating. This one, as any fool can plainly see, is intended for Dorothea. That was the name of my mother who died in October of 2012 but who is apparently still paying monthly bills for the cell phone she never had. Mom was always good about such things.
I'm curious how my cell number got connected to her. When she was in and out of the hospital and nursing home the last year or two of her life, I often put her landline phone on call forwarding to my landline phone…and I do still get spam calls for her. About twice a year, a live person claiming to be from a charity calls my landline and asks for her. I ask, "What is this in reference to?" and the caller says something like, "Well, we've always been able to depend on her for a donation and when she gave us one six months ago, she asked that I call back around now to remind her to donate again."
Sometimes I say, "Really? Six months ago, you spoke to my mother who died in 2012?" If they didn't immediately hang up, I'd say, "Don't you feel guilty conning money out of the Deceased?" But they always hang up before I can get to that part.
I dunno if she ever donated to the caller's "cause" but she did donate to some legit charities and I guess that got her on a pigeon list somewhere. Her old number is not on call forwarding to mine and hasn't been in years but I guess somehow when it was, my number got linked to her.
More bizarre is how, though she never signed up anywhere to receive text messages, she does now…and they show up on my cell. If you know how this happens, please don't tell me. I like to keep a little mystery in my life about some things.
Several of you have sent me info on how to go about reporting spam text messages and I am now about to try some of them. I'll report back here once I understand a little more about how this works.